Bagsy Beetlehorn and the Inferno Conscription (The Bagsy Chronicles 3)

The Armchair Thief

'Do we want Ravenclaw or Slytherin to win?' Mezrielda checked, as the Slytherin seeker sped towards the snitch. Winifred was close behind. Bagsy and Mezrielda were sitting in the Hufflepuff stand, watching the match intently.

'Ravenclaw,' Bagsy explained, barely paying her friend attention as she sat on the edge of her seat. 'Slytherin are ahead in points – the less they score the more possible it becomes for us to steal first place from them in our match against them next term. Then again, if Ravenclaw win now, they won't overtake Slytherin in points, but it will make taking second place from them harder.'

'If only they could both lose,' Mezrielda pondered, Bagsy humming her agreement.

'Still,' she continued, 'we want Ravenclaw to win, because we're aiming for first place.'

The Slytherin seeker's broom jittered as its rider lost confidence. Winifred took her chance and charged past him, banging against his shoulder as her hand sealed confidently around the golden ball.

'Ravenclaw wins!' Magnus Alden announced to cheers from the Ravenclaws.

'Yes!' Bagsy cried. Mezrielda gave polite applause. 'We may have a chance now,' Bagsy breathed. 'Well, we'll still have to score way more points than them, but still...'

With begrudging acceptance that their excuses to not revise were dwindling, Bagsy and Mezrielda trudged to the library after the match. There was only a week of school left before the Easter holidays, and the exams would fall upon them soon after that.

Lessons had been a flurry of revision more intense than the previous year. Starrett had taken to glowering at Bagsy almost constantly, as if she was annoyed that she'd finally get the chance to expel her if she failed this year, but she'd continued to leave her alone.

The culprits of Bagsy's troubles were the usual suspects; Charms, Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts. She knew all the spells by heart, as well as the wand movements, but could she cast as single one of them? Nope. Her other subjects, at least, were going well. Even Herbology was coming along nicely, which was a surprise as, after the incident regarding the visit to Hogsmeade, Arice had refused to speak to Bagsy or work on their clostra boabs, leaving all the heavy lifting to her whilst he stood off to the side and crossed his arms, proclaiming himself as on 'strike'. Despite this, the boab tree Bagsy had been working on had grown very large and sturdy. Bagsy liked to think it would make a suitable prison, whilst hoping it never actually would.

Bagsy's electives were also going very well – she had intended to drop one but, honestly, she didn't feel the need to. She knew she was lucky, not many people could sit for hours reading and memorising and practising facts without getting bored like she could. It may take her ages to keep everything she needed to know in her head but, unlike some other students, she was very willing to commit to the work until she was confident in her abilities. Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle studies and Thaumathletics were all fact-based courses. The latter of the three had surprised Bagsy; in third year it lacked any physical examination, and only asked for students to memorise and demonstrate their understanding of how thaumaturgy worked. Given their teacher, Professor Kim, was its inventor, Bagsy wasn't finding it hard to gain such knowledge.

It was because of this that, as usual, the fear, frustration and panic rising in Bagsy was solely originating from her wand, and her desperate attempts to get it to work. When she practised with her walnut wand it made no difference, despite the brief success she'd found with it at the end of her second year, thanks to the power boost from the now destroyed power of the corvid family. Even Mezrielda was beginning to look less convinced when she'd tell her she'd get the hang of it eventually.

When Bagsy found her stress too much, and felt miserable there wasn't a rat she could cuddle to soothe her feelings, they'd pause their revision and play a game. For Christmas, Mezrielda had gifted Bagsy a modified version of a card game they'd found down the back of one of the library shelves, that Mezrielda had titled traitor. They placed three cards on the table that had their own minds and motivations, and drew one card each, and then tried to figure out who was lying, and who was telling the truth.